Modi's reheated electricity scheme won't fix meter reading woes

Free electricity connections for the poor have been part of the Centre's electrification programme since the UPA regime, though the prime minister has tried to sell it as new.

The new scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday – to provide power connections to four crore households that lack access to electricity – is basically a repackaging of the UPA regime’s Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) and looks aimed at creating a new vote bank for the NDA ahead of the 2019 general elections rather than address the country’s energy poverty.

The RGGVY, now subsumed under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), too provides for free connections to below poverty line (BPL) households, like the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) is supposed to